Julia Burdelski stories, Page 28
Records reveal how violence at Pittsburgh pools prompted chaperone policy
A fistfight among dozens of teenagers, the use of pepper spray and threats with a gun were among a string of violent incidents at Pittsburgh public pools early this summer that raised serious security concerns among city officials, according to documents obtained by TribLive. The incidents, not previously made public...
Pittsburgh controller urges URA to better use $10M affordable housing fund
Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler is calling on the Urban Redevelopment Authority to more efficiently use a fund for affordable housing instead of leaving money unused. Heisler’s recommendation follows an audit released Thursday by her office that showed that in 2022, the authority did not spend several hundred thousand dollars of...
Have a gripe about your flight? Pa. AG launches online aviation complaint form
Pennsylvania travelers facing issues such as flight delays, cancellations or boarding problems now can file complaints through an online form launched Wednesday by the state Attorney General’s Office. Attorney General Michelle Henry said a national uptick in consumer complaints prompted her to act. State residents and travelers who experience airline...
Steelers affiliate receives $850K settlement in dispute over Acrisure Stadium scoreboard
Pittsburgh’s Sports and Exhibition Authority has settled a yearslong dispute over whether it should have to pay for a costly upgrade to the scoreboard at Acrisure Stadium. The authority agreed to pay $850,000 to PSSI Stadium LLC, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The disagreement began when PSSI upgraded the...
Pittsburgh moving ahead with food justice fund grants after slow start
Pittsburgh is moving ahead with a plan to distribute money from its food justice fund after a slow start that left some activists frustrated. The city included $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the new fund, which intends to bolster fresh food access across the city, in...
Red-light district: Pittsburgh mulls tech to catch traffic-light scofflaws
Drivers running red lights in Pittsburgh could one day be fined through an automatic enforcement system. Legislation introduced Tuesday to City Council would allow Pittsburgh to install cameras at high-risk intersections to ticket drivers who blow through red lights. “This technology will allow us to crack down on dangerous driving...
Bridge over Pittsburgh’s Saw Mill Run Boulevard to be razed
A poorly rated bridge over Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington neighborhood is set to be torn down this week after a judge denied a request to halt demolition. The bridge, located near Woodruff Street, is owned by the city of Pittsburgh but is not used as a...
Antisemitic graffiti targets Chabad of Squirrel Hill, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
Rabbi Yisroel Altein woke up to what he called a troubling sight Monday morning — red spray paint on the facade of Chabad of Squirrel Hill that read “Jews for Palestine.” Under the words was an inverted red triangle, a symbol that Hamas militants have used to indicate they were...
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy forges forest of the future in face of global warming
In a quiet corner of Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, Jaci Bruschi has been carefully tending a grove of yellowwood trees since 2019. The trees aren’t native to the Pittsburgh area, but they’ve largely thrived in Fezziwig Grove, a research grove manned by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. As the conservancy’s horticultural project...
Hill District residents impatient over ’empty promises’ of neighborhood improvement
Marimba Milliones was among the Hill District residents who on Thursday told local leaders they’re getting impatient after years of waiting for investment in their neighborhood. A major redevelopment is underway in the Lower Hill District at the site of the former Civic Arena. It’s set to include a new...
Pittsburgh seeks to allot up to $2M per year to aid tenants fighting eviction
Jala Rucker was nearly evicted nine years ago from her home on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Rucker didn’t know where she would take her kids if she got kicked out of her Manchester apartment — and she didn’t know what would happen to the dozens of neighbors in her building who...
‘Completely unacceptable’: Committee tours site of Trump assassination attempt
A bipartisan congressional delegation got a firsthand look Monday at the place where a 20-year-old nursing home aide came within a hairsbreadth of killing Donald Trump. After climbing the same Butler County roof from which Thomas Crooks fired shots from an AR-15 rifle, members of the U.S. House Committee on...
Rivers Casino workers, fearful of gambling on health, rally behind effort to ban smoking
Alicia Monahan blames secondhand smoke for two fainting episodes she experienced while working at Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. The table games dealer said she’s otherwise healthy but sometimes feels the effects of the smoke getting to her. Since she started working at the casino in 2019, she collapsed...
Pittsburgh councilman seeks to restore in-person option to obtain permits
More than four years after the City of Pittsburgh moved all permitting services online because of the covid-19 pandemic, a councilman wants in-person services restored. Pittsburgh has been without an in-person option for those who need permits since March 2020. A new city office building Downtown called 412 Boulevard of...
Backlash prompts Pittsburgh URA to remove for-sale signs on nearly 600 properties
When Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority this summer began placing for-sale signs on hundreds of properties it owns throughout the Hill District, Randall Taylor was alarmed. Taylor, a community leader with the Hill District Consensus Group, said he was concerned that land speculators could see the signs and gobble up land...
Pittsburgh hearing on property taxes puts focus on ‘broken’ system
Regular state-mandated property reassessments would provide school districts with more predictable revenue streams from property taxes and ensure all property owners pay no more than their fair share, experts and local officials said Monday. During a Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing in the Allegheny County Courthouse, officials urged lawmakers...
Innamorato asks judge to toss Pittsburgh Public Schools lawsuit on reassessment
Allegheny County and its top official, Sara Innamorato, on Monday asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Pittsburgh Public Schools that is trying to trigger a countywide property reassessment. The school district sued in April to force a countywide reassessment, something that hasn’t been done since 2012. Pittsburgh Public...
Security guard charged in Penn Hills hookah bar killing says gun accidentally discharged
Police said they don’t believe the security guard who is accused of killing a woman at a Penn Hills hookah bar last month had any motive to shoot her, but he will face trial for criminal homicide. Chaz Jackson, 42, of Pittsburgh was charged in connection with the death of...
State bill guarding Pittsburghers from big property tax hikes heads to Shapiro
State legislation passed this week paves the way for Pittsburgh to exempt or defer tax increases for longtime homeowners whose property values have jumped since they purchased their houses. The goal is to protect longtime residents from being taxed out of their homes in developing neighborhoods where skyrocketing property values...
First lady Jill Biden to visit Pittsburgh on Saturday
First lady Jill Biden is expected to visit Pittsburgh this weekend, her second visit in just over a month. The first lady is scheduled to arrive at Pittsburgh International Airport around 4 p.m. Saturday before delivering remarks at an Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner in Pittsburgh. On the...
Pittsburgh council creates new fund for festivals … but without any money
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a fund to support festivals and events that were disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic — but they don’t have any money for it. Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, last month introduced legislation to create a fund from the city’s allotment of federal pandemic...
Pittsburgh councilwoman pushes to end pot testing for medical marijuana card holders
A Pittsburgh councilwoman wants to ban employment discrimination for people with medical marijuana cards. Legislation introduced Tuesday by Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, would make medical marijuana cardholders a protected class. The bill would ban almost all employers in the city from testing prospective employees and current workers for cannabis use...
Tim McNulty, ex-reporter, Peduto and Penguins spokesman, dies at 54 after cancer battle
Tim McNulty, a former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter who went on to serve as a spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto and then the Pittsburgh Penguins, died Friday at his North Side home after a long battle with cancer. He was 54. City Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith plans to introduce legislation Tuesday to...
9 months after Hamas attack on Israel, rally in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood calls for release
Alon Ohel, one of more than 100 people captured by Hamas during an Oct. 7 attack on Israel, remains a hostage nine months later. He was taken by Hamas at the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border. Jeff Finkelstein, CEO of the Jewish Federation of...
Pittsburgh opening 6 cooling centers as temperatures climb Monday, Tuesday
Pittsburgh will open six cooling centers Monday and Tuesday as temperatures are expected to climb above 90 degrees. The cooling centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., city officials said. The cooling centers will be available at Healthy Active Living Community Center sites throughout the city: •...
